Chara Games: Unauthorized ~ Review

By now you probably realize that we enjoy playing games as a family, so you won’t be surprised for me to tell you that we have added a fun new game to our arsenal of games; Unauthorized. This new card game from Chara Gamesis designed for a group of 6-12 players. Their recommended age is 12+ but I must admit, we had a couple of players who were younger than this (these players were 9 and 10) and they caught on just fine.

This Instructional Video is extremely helpful in understanding how the game is played. It provides a good deal of clarity to the workings of the game up front so that as you progress through the game you have a better understanding of the process.

A Little More About the Game

The game consists of:

12 Double-Sided Role Cards: Pastor (2), Police (2), Counselor, Teacher, merchant, Clerk, Matchmaker, Rebel, Thief and Musician. These double-sided cards have a different looking character on each side but their powers don’t change.

3 Reference Cards

97 Experience Cards (Depending on how many players you have you might not use them all. There is a base deck, an 8+ deck and a 10+ deck . The 8+ and 10+ decks are added to the base deck when you have enough players.)

Double-Sided Role Cards

Sample Experience Cards

Game Set Up

Each person gets a role card. When playing with 8 players there are 2 police, 1 pastor and 5 neutral cards (i.e. thief, musician, matchmaker etc.). The pastor is then given 7 church cards and each of the police are given 7 state cards (these are from the Experience card deck). Then the dealer mixes the remaining Experience cards and deals 7 cards to each of the neutral players.

For Round 1, each person simultaneously plays two of the Experience cards from their hand. This is the beginning of showing their allegiance either to the state or to the church. Next each player takes his/her turn. For their turn they have the choice between four actions:

Role Power

Speak to a Neighbor

Seek Parole

Conduct a public execution

On the second round, the dealer card is passed to the left based on the number of players. For instance with 8 players, we passed it 2 places to the left. For Round 2, each player passes 1 card from their hand to the player on their left and then plays a card face up (again this happens simultaneously.) Next each player takes his/her turn. For their turn they have the choice between four actions listed above.

Round 3: Again pass the dealer card to the next dealer. Then each player passes 1 card from their hand to the player on their right. Then plays 1 card face up. Next each player takes his/her turn. For their turn they have the choice between four actions listed above.

Round 4: Again pass the dealer card to the next dealer. Then each player passes 1 card from their hand to any 1 player of their choice. Then plays one card face up. Next each player takes his/her turn. For their turn they have the choice between four actions listed above.

The game ends after the fourth round. Will it be the church or the state? Each players allegiance is determined by the cards they have played and in their hand. Any ties go to the state.

It was a unanimous vote that we all really enjoyed playing Unauthorized! We have decided that we need to host a teen night for members of our homeschool group and play again. We seriously had a lot of fun playing it! And thank you to our friends who were willing to try it out with us!!